A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AND LIFE OF ST PAUL S PARISH BURY

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1 WHO WE ARE AND WHO WE RE LOOKING FOR A good lively communicator with young and old parishioners, the ability to forward the churches work through Home Visits. To take an active role in the Day Schools of both Parishes and to set up a core group of people who are willing to progress the work and word of our lord in the parish and beyond, be it a men`s class, women`s group or a joint organisation, the emphasis being on young people. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AND LIFE OF ST PAUL S PARISH BURY In the early nineteenth century, Chapels and Work Schools were built by philanthropic mill owners to educate the mill workers and their families. One such establishment was located at Moorgate and it was in this School that religious services and education took place. As the population increased, the need for more places of Religious Education and Worship became a priority. Funding was found to build several Schools and Churches in the borough and two of the schools, St Pauls Bell (Ding Dong College) and Huntley were built to replace the Work School at Moorgate. Separately, Mr John Harper was the architect appointed to build St Pauls church in a gothic style. The foundation stone was laid on 3 rd October 1838 on an open field site in front of a reported crowd of 1000 people. It took just under four years to build, at a cost of The most popular job must have been that of the painters. It is reported that 97 quarts of beer were mixed with the paint to stain the pews, of which there were approximately eighty, each pew holding eight to ten people. There have been approximately twelve vicars up to the present day ministering to the people of the parish with the support of up to two curates at any one time. A Mr John Woods was appointed First Clerk to the parish, a post which he held for thirty eight years. In January 1870 the first Parish Magazine was produced and published and in 1899 the first Parish Council was held. In February 1921The Memorial Institute ( now Brookfield Nursing Home ) was opened by the Earl of Derby in recognition of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War and subsequently those men and women who were involved in World War two. This building and the two schools became the social centres of the parish. The Institute had facilities for snooker, table tennis, tennis, billiards, and contained a lounge, library, kitchen and a large functions room for Whist Drives, Dances and Parties. There were at least two Garden Parties held each year. Sunday School took place in Huntley and Bell Schools each week. Pantomimes, Plays and concerts were also held in the schools throughout the year. Many other organisations also made use of the Schools and Institute on a regular Basis, Mothers Union, Sewing Classes, Girls Friendly Society, Football teams, Men`s Class, Scouts, Guides, Cubs and Brownies, to name but a few. The most surprising find among the Parish records is the existence of a Fathers Union, various photographs depict the group on visits to the countryside of Birtle and of two Gentlemen one propping up a water pump whilst the other is sat astride a beer barrel, seems to highlight where their interests lay. Up until the Swinging Sixties the social life for many people revolved around the seasons of the Church`s year. Christmas, St Pauls Day, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Mothering Sunday, Whitsuntide, Sermons Sunday and so on. The Sixties themselves brought about a different attitude to life and how to live it. Attendances at Church began to decline, resulting in the

2 closure of many church buildings, St Pauls Church being a victim in The building, located between St Paul`s Street and Parsonage Street has now been converted into apartments and stands as a memorial to a vibrant past. In concluding this short history of St Pauls it seems ironic that today the congregation of this parish is back to where it started in the early nineteenth century, worshipping in a School Building. BASIC INFORMATION & STATISTICS Parish of St. Paul, Bury Priest-in-charge Patron: Earl of Derby Archdeaconry of Bolton Archdeacon David Bailey archbolton@manchester.anglican.org Deanery of Bury Area Dean: Simon Cook simondjcook@aol.com The incumbent will live in Bury Rectory Population of St Paul s is 5,600 (2011 Census) There are about 35 on the electoral roll. Average weekly attendance of adults for the last 3 years - 39 Average weekly attendance of children & young people for the last 3 years - 26 The church is not licensed to hold marriages or funerals - these take place at BPC In the last 12 months there have been: 2 Baptisms 28 Christmas communicants 18 Easter communicants St Paul s Church meets in the hall of St Paul s Primary School. We are currently negotiating a church-in-school agreement with the school leadership to standardize the position between the diocese and the authority. St Paul s bimonthly magazine is currently under review It has its own page on Bury Parish Church s website Our Churchwarden is Mr Robert Thew Parish Representatives: Mr. Robert Thew and Mr. Colin Riggs PARISH AND LOCAL COMMUNITY The parish of St. Paul's covers a large area sitting either side of a busy main road that runs from Rochdale to Bury with the M66 to the east and the town centre to the west. To the north just a short walk from the worship centre you are into open country side with woodland and moorland walks with panoramic views over towns, golf courses and farms.

3 The population fairly resigned to where they live and are of all ages young and old. The area has people that are housed by the authorities for a time, some of whom come to church for a short time before being moved. The housing in the parish is made up of rows of terraced houses two large social housing estates and areas of new building. As a church we are what I would describe as a flat pack church as we have our services in St. Paul's C of E primary school hall. With the link with the school we have some 200 children that give us contact with parents for various activities within school. Within our bounds we have two other schools one primary and one senior school. Again within our bounds we have a number of national commercial businesses alongside small independent shops and a supermarket. Just outside our parish we have a large hospital with an A and E department. SCHOOLS AND VOLUNTARY GROUPS St Paul s C of E (Aided) Primary School serves the most socially deprived area of Bury. Being situated in the Chesham Fold (Dickybird) council estate. The School is a one form entry school with around 220 pupils comprising of a large number of pupils and families with complex problems, including an increasing number of children and families from overseas countries It has a dedicated Headteacher and a stable staff. The School was rated Good in its last Ofsted inspection February There is a Scout group run at St Paul s School by a faithful group of volunteers, and the Youth Worker spends a significant part of his time in the School. WORSHIP & WORSHIPPERS The style of worship at St Paul s reflects the importance we place on hearing God s word and sharing communion together as his people. The services are generally structured and relaxed! We have a regular parish communion service with Sunday School every Sunday except for the 2 nd Sunday in the month, when we have an all-age Parade Service. Our liturgy is based on Common Worship and can be either on a screen or in the red service booklets, depending on clergy and/or technology available. The clergy usually robe according to the tradition they prefer (cassock-alb and stole or cassock, surplice and stole) Our congregation is both local and international. Our youngest worshipper is about 2, and our eldest in their eighties. Females outnumber males. We have transient worshippers as well as those who have worshipped their whole lives at St Paul s. Most worshippers are gathered from the immediate locale, with some travelling from outside the parish. NEIGHBOURING ANGLICAN CHURCHES & PARISHES We have very good relations with Bury Parish Church with friendship and support for various projects existing across the parish boundaries. We tend to join in with events that the other is putting on, rather than collaborate on joint ventures. People from both churches help in St Paul s School with 2 nd hand clothes sales and hearing children read.

4 Now that the relationship between the two churches have been standardised, we would hope to plan joint ventures to serve the community and share God s love with them. ECUMENISM There aren t any other churches in the area that we have links with. We are members of Churches Together in Bury and have taken part in the annual Good Friday Walk of Witness and Christmas carol singing in Bury market. MINISTRY The Associate Rector of Bury parish has been the main minister at St Paul s, taking the Sunday services three times out of four and chairing PCC meetings. The Rector would take one service a month and two retired clergy help out where necessary: Canon Ian McVeety and Rev. Dr David Foss. We also have an OLM in training (Dr. Sheila Beattie) who leads and preaches at St Paul s whenever she is given opportunity. We have a retired ALM (Pat Cooke) who is willing to help as she is able. We encourage members of the congregation to take part in services by reading and doing intercessions. Several members help run Sunday School along with the parish youth worker. PCC have recently approved of several of our young people helping to serve at communion. MISSION Our aims in mission is to grow in faith and numbers. At the moment we are quite small in numbers but all are good and faithful. We enjoy good fellowship and are a friendly congregation. We would like to share what we have with others and we pride ourselves on being welcoming, friendly and helpful. We have young families (who are a joy) middle aged people and older people, we are a mixed bunch of people happy to come together to worship God. Our children go down to Sunday School three Sundays out of four where they play games, make things to take home and learn about Jesus in a fun and caring way. They remain with us on the second Sunday for church parade and family service. We have a wide Parish, much of it is not covered at the moment, due to lack of people. There are two schools, East Ward County Primary School and Broad Oak High School. We would love to get know them better. We also have a large Car Home for Elderly people who can no longer look after themselves. Many have some form of dementia and it would be good to get someone trained up to go in again to be with them for prayers, etc. I would love to see the Church grow by having more social occasions where we could invite people from the wider Parish to join us and perhaps, be tempted to come and see what we do on a Sunday.

5 Meanwhile we enjoy our brilliant relationship with St Paul's School and hope to broaden our horizon in the near future. FINANCE & STEWARDSHIP ST Paul s is a small congregation with a big heart. We have an envelope scheme which enables members of the congregation who are too infirm to attend church to continue to support the church. The last stewardship campaign was in The Parish Share has been paid in full for many years now. In 1995 when the church building closed the parish share hadn t been paid for a long time and there was little money in the accounts. Now St Paul s is paying its way and has money in reserve. This is due to the generosity of the congregation and the low overheads having services in the school. St Paul s was the third church to be built in Bury after St John s Church and the Parish Church of St Mary s. The land for St Paul s Church and vicarage was generously given by Lord Derby so it is very fitting that the present Lord Derby is now patron of St Paul s. The Church was consecrated in June 1842 and had a PCC long before church legislation made it obligatory, the first meeting being in June 1899.